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Creative Writing class goes outside the classroom for story ideas

 

Posted September 28, 2009

 

Four walls, a whiteboard and fluorescent lighting might be a conducive environment for learning to take place.  For students in a writing class, though, the creative juices typically flow better when immersed in a more energetic setting.  Or, at least, that’s the theory of Coffeyville Community College creative writer instructor Salina Meek.

 

Meek has taken her class to locations in Coffeyville such as the Elmwood Cemetery and the Brown Mansion to provide inspiration for her students.  Her latest assignment took the class to the King’s Coffee Company in Dearing.

 

While writers mingling in a coffee shop is a stereotypical image, the assignment for Meek’s class had nothing to do with this location.

 

“The students are working on a Brown Mansion project,” said Meek.  “The story can be any genre, but the action has to take place at the mansion - any time period - a flashback, or an interesting tour.”

 

Some of the ideas the students are working on include a haunted tour in which something supernatural happens, and a flashback in time to when the Browns were still living there.

 

“The stories do not have to be historically accurate,” added Meek, giving the students some creative license.  

 

For Coffeyville freshman Ruth Clark, the creative writing class is providing her with an opportunity to refine her skills.

 

“I’ve always enjoyed writing stories, not published, or anything,” said Clark.  “By taking this class, I can learn how to create a more structured, more finished story,” said Clark.  

 

The creative writing class will continue take the classroom to various locations across the area this semester.  The final assignment following the Thanksgiving holiday will return the students to the Elmwood Cemetery, a site visited by the class in August.  Meek will have the students write another story with the setting in the cemetery.

 

“I want the students to find out if the change in seasons has an effect on their original story ideas,” said Meek.

Coffeyville Community College students Brittany Hoggatt, Mary Conn, and Ruth Clark, all of Coffeyville, work on an assignment for Salina Meek’s (right) Creative Writing class at the King’s Coffee Company in Dearing.  Meek’s class has often ventured outside the classroom this semester to seek story ideas or a conducive environment to complete assignments.